Bomberman 64
Encyclopedia
Bomberman 64, known in Japan as , is a video game developed by Hudson Soft
Hudson Soft
, formally known as , is a majority-owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973...

 and published by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....

 for the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...

. The game was released in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 on November 27, 1997 and released in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 on December 1 of the same year. The game is rated K-A by the ESRB
Entertainment Software Rating Board
The Entertainment Software Rating Board is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings, enforces industry-adopted advertising guidelines, and ensures responsible online privacy principles for computer and video games as well as entertainment software in Canada, Mexico and...

. Despite being released after Star Fox 64
Star Fox 64
, known in Australia and Europe as Lylat Wars, is a scrolling shooter video game for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It is a reboot of the original Star Fox, and the only game in the Star Fox series to be released on the Nintendo 64....

, it is incompatible with the Rumble Pak
Rumble Pak
The is a removable device from Nintendo which provides force feedback while playing video games. Games that support the Rumble Pak cause it to vibrate in select situations, such as when firing a weapon or receiving damage, to immerse the player in the game. Versions of the Rumble Pak are available...

. A Russian release was planned for August 19, 1997, titled Hyper Bomberman , but was eventually cancelled.

Bomberman 64 is the first 3-D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...

 game within the Bomberman series. It also implements a different single-player mode by incorporating action-adventure and platforming stages, instead of arenas in which enemies or other elements must be destroyed. The game has spawned two sequels on the N64: Bomberman Hero
Bomberman Hero
is an action video game sequel to Bomberman 64 for the Nintendo 64. Bomberman Hero is more advanced in terms of gameplay, as well as having more levels, bosses, weapons, and character moves. However, it lacks multiplayer and therefore focuses on the single player action...

(1998) and Bomberman 64: The Second Attack
Bomberman 64: The Second Attack
The game received mixed to good reviews. Criticism came toward the graphics and sound by GameSpot saying "Although Bomberman 64: The Second Attack is not at all revolutionary, it is not especially well executed in any particular area, and it suffers noticeably in the graphics and sound departments,...

(2000).

Story

In the game's opening sequence, a peaceful-looking planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...

 with gardens, rivers, and residential buildings abound is shown. Seconds later, the space pirate, Artemis, drops from the sky with a band of soldiers and orders them to raid the planet. Meanwhile, Altair (the leader of the space pirates), watches from the Black Fortress, using his coveted weapon, the Omni Cube, to completely drain the planet's energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...

, condemning it to a zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...

-like state.

Artemis returns to the Black Fortress to meet up with her partners, fellow pirates Orion and Regulus and her superior, Altair. Together, they set their sights on their next target: Planet Bomber, home of the protagonist, Bomberman. They maneuver their fortress into the atmosphere
Atmosphere
An atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, and that is held in place by the gravity of the body. An atmosphere may be retained for a longer duration, if the gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low...

 of Planet Bomber.

Bomberman, from atop a cliff, observes the Black Fortress' descent. Not much later, the Fortress begins to open fire on the people of Planet Bomber, firing destructive energy rays into populated areas.

A warrior clad in white then flies out to the surprised Bomberman, and asks if he plans to defeat the assailants. Bomberman gives an affirmative response, and the stranger (later introduced as Sirius) explains that a force field protects the Fortress from any outside attack. Sirius goes on to say that this force field can be deactivated by destroying the four anchors attached to the Fortress; the "Green Garden": a ruin-filled natural world, "Blue Resort": a fortress surrounded by water, "Red Mountain": a large volcano fraught with danger, and "White Glacier": a large, snowy mountain covered in ice. Once inside the Fortress, they must find and destroy Altair.

Bomberman successfully climbs onto and destroys the four anchors with the help of Sirius, who helps him by supplying power-ups and teaching him new techniques. Once force field around the Fortress is deactivated, the duo enter the Fortress. After sneaking through Altair's security measures, Bomberman finds and confronts Altair, and after a difficult struggle, defeats the pirate. The previously defeated Regulus swoops in and attempts to rescue his master from the battlefield, but is then knocked away by Sirius. Altair drops the Omni Cube, which Sirius lands on the battle platform to retrieve. At this point, Altair is annihilated by a newly powered-up Sirius. Sirius reveals that he was only using Bomberman's abilities into taking back the Omni Cube which was stolen by Altair, adding that he was sick of working with him and lying to him during the mission. He then takes the Omni Cube and escapes to his secret lair to destroy Planet Bomber.

Bomberman pursues him, successfully making his way through the palace, confronting Sirius for his betrayal. When Sirius is about to fire on Bomberman, he is saved by Regulus, knocking him away and destroying the Omni cube. With the aid of Regulus, Bomberman succeeds and defeats Sirius. Without the power of the Omnicube, The Rainbow Palace crashes into the Black Fortress, destroying both, as Regulus escapes with Bomberman, informing him that he was quite surprised with Bomberman's ability to defeat Sirius, as he and his comrades had considerable difficulty taking the Omnicube from Sirius. Regulus leaves Planet Bomber, stating that one day he will have a rematch with his new rival, Bomberman, who celebrates his victory.

Gameplay

This game is featured in full 3D, thus the directional controls change. Bomberman is able to walk in eight directions with a rotating camera facing in eight directions and with three different zooms. His bombs have a different effect than in other games of the series; the bomb's explosion waves have a spherical pattern rather than the traditional cross-shaped ones.

In both single player
Single player
A Single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. "Single-player game" usually implies a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" usually refers to a game mode for a single player, where...

 and multiplayer modes, Bomberman always has the ability to kick, pick up, and throw bombs, without the need of powerups, as in previous games. A unique feature of this game is that Bomberman can "pump" a bomb while holding it, which will make the bomb's explosion more powerful. A pumped-up bomb cannot be kicked or picked up again. Unlike most platform games of its time, Bomberman cannot jump, nor can he swim in water, although he can wade in shallow water. Since Bomberman lacks the ability to jump, higher areas that do not have a path leading to them must be reached by bouncing across bombs - typically this requires the "remote" power-up to avoid the normally timed bombs exploding early. "Bomb jumping" is actually required to fully explore most levels, retrieve certain power-ups, and cross many obstacles.

If Bomberman runs into an enemy NPC
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...

, or is hit on the head by a small object, such as an unexploded bomb, he will get dizzy temporarily (he will sit there dizzy spinning his head in circles with "X" eyes and stars rotating around his head). While in this state, he can get hoisted up by an enemy and thrown around or even finished off by getting thrown off the map, or into a bomb explosion. Conversely, Bomberman can do the same to an enemy.

When Bomberman takes damage, he dies. If he has a "heart" power-up
Power-up
In computer and video games, power-ups are objects that instantly benefit or add extra abilities to the game character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a benefit and can be used at a time chosen by the player...

 when he's hit, he will survive, but he will lose the heart. When he dies all powerups that he had obtained will scatter all over the place. In the Normal single-player mode, taking damage simply causes Bomberman to drop the heart, and if it doesn't bounce off the level, he can pick it up again to survive another hit. In the Hard mode, the heart will simply disappear.

The game has four bosses, all of which perform the same bomb attacks as Bomberman: Artemis, the only female boss, shoots fiery feathers. Orion is able to block bombs and dizzy Bomberman with a dome shield, then hoist him up and throw him into lava. Regulus performs a straight gliding dash that, should he catch Bomberman, ends in a melee combo. Altair, the final boss, attacks alongside a small, flying jet that fires a fatal laser. Altair then combines with it into a second form that is able to teleport and fire single projectiles. Unaffiliated to the previous bosses, Sirius also challenges Bomberman to a match, performing the same bomb attacks. All bosses can dizzy Bomberman if they touch him on Hard mode.

Game progression

At the start of the game, Bomberman can enter any of four anchors, which are terrariums of other planets (that were probably drained by Altair). The starting worlds are: Green Garden, Blue Resort, Red Mountain, and White Glacier. In each anchor there are four stages. The first and third stages are adventure stages where Bomberman must navigate through the stage by solving puzzles and blasting his way toward the "Goal Arrow." The second and fourth stages are boss
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...

 stages, Bomberman must fight Sirius or one of Altair's subordinates in the second stage, and he must fight the world's guardian in the fourth.

After Bomberman beats the first four anchors, he can enter the Black Fortress. Like the previous worlds, the first and third stages are adventure stages, but this time Bomberman must fight the guardian in the second stage and Altair himself in the fourth stage.

In every stage there are five gold cards to collect (100 total). Once all gold cards have been collected, the player can unlock the secret world, Rainbow Palace. After all the gold cards have been collected from there (an additional 20, making a grand total of 120 Gold Cards) the player unlocks more courses in multiplayer mode plus the "Full Power" cheat option. With the cheat activated, Bomberman starts with 8 bombs, 5 flames, power bombs, and remote bombs.

Advertising

For the promotion of Bomberman 64 in the 1997 holiday season, Nintendo of America released a commercial featuring an altered version of the theme song of the 1967 Spider-Man TV series
Spider-Man (1967 TV series)
Spider-Man is an animated television series that ran from September 9, 1967 to June 14, 1970. It was jointly produced in Canada and the United States and was the first animated adaptation of the Spider-Man comic book series, created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko...

.
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